The Henry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation highlighted SBCLT in a blogpost on February 2, 2026 titled “What Is Community-Led Development? A Pathway to Long-Term Affordable Housing.” The blogpost focuses on community-led development as the approach that best enables communities to “strengthen their ability to plan for the long term — supporting affordability, stability, and alignment with local priorities.”
Here’s a brief excerpt:
Community-Led Development in Practice
Community-led development is not a single blueprint. It takes different forms depending on local context, community priorities, and available resources. What these approaches share is a commitment to resident leadership and stewardship.
Community land trusts are one of the most established and widely used models. This involves a nonprofit or trust holding land on behalf of a community, then renting or selling homes on the land at affordable rates. By separating land ownership from homeownership, land trusts help remove the cost of land from housing prices, preserving affordability for generations and protecting communities from displacement, particularly in expensive housing markets.
Several Foundation grantees use the community land trust model to preserve affordability and prevent displacement in ways that reflect local needs.
For example, following the 2023 Maui wildfires, Lahaina Community Land Trust aims to rebuild housing that will be affordable in perpetuity, ensuring residents can remain on the island. On Kauaʻi, two nonprofits — Kauaʻi Housing Development Corporation and Kauaʻi Habitat for Humanity — plan to develop affordable housing that will include a land trust component, as is grantee Permanently Affordable Living Hawaiʻi.
In Baltimore, South Baltimore Community Land Trust is working with residents to create permanently affordable housing without displacement. Through the renovation of vacant homes and the construction of new homes on vacant land, the organization is expanding housing opportunities while ensuring long-term affordability.H
You can read the blogpost in its entirety here:
We are grateful to the Henry & Jeanette Weinberg for their support over the years! To learn more about how YOU can support SBCLT’s vision for community-led development in Baltimore, visit our donate page.
